Things Change
by NightRain0
Summary: The lost story of Kadaj's childhood and a friend who was forgotten long ago... Kadaj X OC
1. First Impressions

NightRain0: The story you're about to read is in three parts. The first part is about the childhood of Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, and my OC Reiko. The second part (the present) is post Advent Children. The final part, the future…well... you'll see. I don't own any of the FF characters that appear in this story.

* * *

Things Change (The Past)

Memory 1: First Impressions (Reiko's POV)

My name is Reiko Endou, daughter of the scientist Dr. Katsuro Endou. Years ago, before the Meteor event, my father and I lived together in seclusion in Rocket Town. My father was always busy working on stuff for Shinra, leaving my alone with nothing to do, but read…

However, things changed one winter morning. I was reading quietly in the corner when the door bell rang. One of the maids answered it and it was then I realized that Dr. Hojo had come to pay another visit. I'd never liked that man, even if he wasn't speaking to me, it felt as though snakes were coiling around me.

Today Hojo brought along two, no wait, three boys with him. As he discussed some business with my father, I snuck closer to get a better look at the three boys. All three of them had silver hair and appeared to be brothers seeing as they closely resembled one another. The youngest of the three, who was hiding behind the other two boys, saw me and stuck out his tongue at me.

'That little jerk' I thought as I clenched my fists and glared back at him. Now all three of then were making strange faces at me. What immature brats. I had hoped that they'd leave soon, but that wasn't to be the case. To my disappointment, when Hojo left he didn't take the three of them with him…

"There you are, Reiko," said my father when he caught sight of me. "This is Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz, they'll be staying with us for a while."

In today's society, first impressions were very important because that's the opinion about the person you tend to stick to. These three boys had only been in my life for ten minutes and my first impression was I hate them!

* * *

NightRain0: That's it for the first memory! To find out what happens to the three brothers and Reiko, keep reading! Please review! 


	2. A Lesson in Sports

Things Change (The Past)

* * *

Memory 2: A Lesson in Sports

"Kyaaahhhhh!" screamed Reiko as a bucket of ice cold water fell on top of her, soaking her long auburn hair.

"You jerks!" she screeched as the three silver haired brothers ran off as they laughed their head off.

Reiko glared at the three with her sapphire eyes that were now burning with fury. She was right, ever since the three boys had entered her life a week ago they had make her life a living hell. Everyday they would put a bucket of water on top of some doorway and when she opened it… The very thought of it burned her up.

What made things worse was that today was Sunday, the only day of the week when the three boys were allowed to do what ever they wanted. If she wanted peace and quiet, she had to make it to her sanctuary, and quick. One more bucket of water dumped over her head could make her go off the deep end and completely lose it…

* * *

The sanctuary of the library, peace and quiet everywhere and there was absolutely no sign of the three silver-haired brothers. There were only tons of books calling out for her to be read. Well, it was time to get to work, the sounds of the books calling out to her was almost unbearable.

When Reiko finally settled down in her favorite corner to read, she thought that she heard a strange noise from outside. Curious, she cautiously looked out the window and saw that the noise came from the three brothers. They were all playing some sort of game outside, and it seemed like a lot of fun…

"It's no big deal," mumbled Reiko to herself. "The only real friends I have here are the books anyways…"

Once again, Reiko sat down to read, but then the soccer ball that the three boys had been playing with came crashing through the window. After letting out a surprised shriek, it was then Reiko realized that the three boys would soon come into the library to look for their lost ball. In other words, her last sanctuary was about to be invaded!

"AH!" she squeaked. "My sanctuary… What do I do! What do I do!"

"Hey Kadaj," called out Yazoo's voice from behind the door. "I think the ball's in this room."

At the last second, Reiko dived behind the curtains as the three boys came in. She had hoped that they would just pick up the ball and leave, but once again, things didn't go as she had planned. Kadaj just had to reveal her hiding place, that stupid freak!

"Reiko!" Kadaj said. "So this is where you hide every Sunday!"

"No it's not!" screeched Reiko. "Now get out! Kyaah! Yazoo! Put that book down! You'll make me lose my page! Loz! You're stepping on my stuff! Out! All of you! Out!"

"Alright, alright," said Kadaj. "But you're coming with us!"

"What! Why!"

"Because we need you to play so that we can have the same amount of people on each team!" explained Yazoo as all three of them took hold of Reiko and dragged her out of the room.

"What? Wait a sec…Kyaaaaahhh!"

* * *

"Was the sun always this bright?" asked Reiko, who hadn't been outside for some time. "Kyaaahhh! It's too bright! I got to get back inside!"

"Reiko! Wait!" said Kadaj as he latched onto her.

"Gyah! I'm going to melt!"

It was then and there that Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz learned that Reiko was not use to the sunlight at all and was probably not going to move away from the shade of a nearby oak tree…

"Alright then…" muttered Kadaj when he finally gave up trying to drag Reiko away from the shade. "We'll just play around here then…"

"Hey Reiko," said Yazoo. "We should both be on the same team, after all, we pretty people have to stay together!"

"What?" exclaimed Kadaj.

"You have a problem with that little brother?"

"If that's how we're going to chose teams then I should be the one teaming up with Reiko! I'm way prettier than you!"

"No way! Everyone in this family knows that I'm the prettiest!"

"No you're not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Reiko," whined Kadaj. "Who do you think is prettier?"

After a moment of silence, she finally answered.

"You're both equally ugly…" she muttered.

While both Kadaj and Yazoo were frozen with shock, Loz was suffering from a lack of oxygen due to the fact that he was laughing so hard.

"Um…I was only joking…"

"Wait…you can joke?" questioned Yazoo.

"Um…well…"

"Never mind that!" said Kadaj. "Let's play already!"

"There's only one problem…" mumbled Reiko. "I've never… well…."

* * *

The rest of the afternoon was spent teaching Reiko how to kick a soccer ball. On her first try, she missed the soccer ball completely and fell onto the ground. On her second try she accidentally kicked Loz in the shin (he had been standing a little too close). When it was finally time to go back inside, Reiko had successfully learned how to kick the soccer ball (well, she could kick it, but the ball always manage to land in some strange location like in the branches of the oak tree).

'Maybe these guys aren't so bad after all,' thought Reiko as she opened the library doors to finally finish her book

"Kyaaaaahhhhhh! You jerks!"

Those three boys had done it again… that dumb open the door and have a bucket of water dropped on tour head.

'Then again… maybe they are that bad…'

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NightRain0: Yay! It's done! Hope you liked it! 


	3. Under the Weather

NightRain0- Yay! Finally, I get to update one fanfic! I'll be updating Something to Live For later because I'm rewriting several chapters. Anyways, I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters, but I do own the other characters.

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Things Change (The Past) 

Memory 3: Under the Weather

"Come on Reiko!" whined Kadaj. "So it's raining, it doesn't mean that we can't play outside!"

"It's like a storm out there!" exclaimed Reiko. "You'll catch a cold!"

"No I won't! And you know why I won't catch a cold?"

"…Why?"

"Because I'm too pretty to get sick!"

"Right…"

* * *

"Achoo!" 

"I told you," sang Reiko in an I-told-you-so tone.

"I'm not sick!" shouted Kadaj. "Ah…ACHOO!"

"Hmm," mumbled Reiko's father. "A temperature of over 100 degrees… this isn't good."

"Does that mean Kadaj can't come with us to the lab?" asked Yazoo.

"This means Kadaj can leave his bed," stated Dr. Endou. "And with all the servants still at our old place in Rocket Town cleaning things up…"

"So who's going to look after him?" asked Reiko.

The "family" had just moved to the new town of Vale from Rocket Town, and if the servants were still at the old place cleaning and packing things up, who was going to keep Kadaj out of trouble?

"Uh, dad?" questioned Reiko warily. "Why are you looking at me like that? Oh no…NO! NO! NO!"

* * *

"We'll be back in a few hours," said Dr. Endou. "Try to keep this house in one piece." 

"Lucky Kadaj…" muttered Yazoo. "I wonder if I can catch a cold real quick so I can stay with Reiko too…"

"Dad!" exclaimed Reiko. "You can't be serious! There has to be someone else! Call a babysitter or something!"

"I tried Reiko," said her father. "But there's simply no one around who wants to baby sit Kadaj, even if he isn't as active as usual… Have a good day you two."

The door slammed shut and that was that. Reiko stood in the empty hallway in front of Kadaj's room and sighed. So much for the quiet day of reading she'd planned. This was going to be a rather eventful day…

"I'm not sick!" yelled Kadaj from within the bedroom.

This comment was shortly followed by a thud, which meant that Kadaj had tried to get out of bed, but failed miserably and fell out of the bed and onto the floor. Reiko, with a sigh, went inside and helped Kadaj into bed again. She soon realized that keeping Kadaj in bed was the hardest thing she'd ever tried to do in her entire life! When she left for a few seconds to get a bowl of water and a washcloth for his head, she came back only to discover that he had gotten out of bed and was trying to practice with his souba. Reiko nearly lost her patience when the souba flew out of Kadaj's hand and nearly impaled her.

"What do you think you're doing?" she yelled furiously. "You're suppose to be resting!"

"I'm not…" muttered Kadaj before collapsing onto the floor.

Once she got Kadaj back into bed, Reiko proceeded to remove the souba from the wall when she heard another thud. This continued for an hour or so and several time Reiko felt like she wanted to smother Kadaj with his pillow.

"Why me?" she moaned. "Kadaj, you really need to stay in bed… You're really sick! What can I do to make you stay in bed?"

"The room is too messy…" muttered Kadaj. "Clean it up."

"What? I'm not your maid!"

"I can't rest here, it's too messy."

* * *

"I want some soup…" muttered Kadaj. 

"Here's some soup," panted Reiko who had dashed into the kitchen to get him some soup.

"I don't want it anymore, I want some ice cream."

"Here's your ice cream."

"I want some yogurt."

"Here's some yogurt."

"I wanted strawberry flavored yogurt."

"Here's the strawberry flavored yogurt (which was suppose to be mine because you three pigs ate the rest)."

"I want some chocolate!"

"Here's some chocolate."

"I wanted dark chocolate!"

"Here's the dark chocolate!"

"My soup's cold, make me some more."

'I may end up killing him before I get him more soup…' thought Reiko as she stomped off to get more soup.

* * *

"Here's (pant) your stupid soup, Kadaj!" panted Reiko after she'd finished making a new bowl of soup. "Kyaah! Kadaj!" 

Kadaj was laying face-down on the floor and wasn't moving. His breathing was so shallow that it almost seemed as if he wasn't breathing at all. Reiko rushed to Kadaj and placed a hand gently on his forehead.

"Yeow!" yelped Reiko as she quickly removed her hand from Kadaj's head.

She had to cool him down, fast, so she reached for the cool washcloth in the water basin. It wasn't too long before all the water turned warm thanks to Kadaj. Now Reiko was panicking, what was she going to do? Medicine!

In her rush to get to the medicine cabinet, Reiko ran into 2 grandfather clocks, smashed several vases, and tripped over a stool. Reiko finally found the medicine she needed, making quite a mess in the process, and rushed back upstairs.

"Reiko?" moaned Kadaj as she lifted his head onto her lap.

"Here, eat this," said Reiko gently.

"What is it?" asked Kadaj. "No way, it's that yucky medicine thing…"

"Eat it already!"

To Kadaj's surprise, Reiko pried open his mouth, and threw the two pills into his mouth. Reiko soon forced some water down his throat so that he'd swallow the pills. Kadaj was sure that he was going to barf soon…

* * *

"Feeling better?" asked Reiko. 

"Hn," muttered Kadaj, who was still in shock about how Reiko managed to get him to take his medicine.

"That's good," said Reiko as she sat down in a chair beside Kadaj's bed. "Don't ever get sick again! Now I know what my mom went through when I got sick…"

"Your mom?" questioned Kadaj. "How come I've never seen her around here before?"

"…She's gone away…" muttered Reiko. "She went away on this trip several years ago and hasn't come back yet…"

"I see… Reiko, what's a mother like?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've never seen my mother before… and I don't really know what a mother's like… Could you tell me?"

"Yeah, sure," replied Reiko with a sad smile.

* * *

"You're looking a lot better today," said Dr. Endou the next morning. 

"Yeah, I guess," replied Kadaj. "Where's Reiko?"

"Achoo!" sneezed Reiko as she came out of her room.

"Reiko!" exclaimed Loz. "You look terrible!"

This comment rewarded Loz with a hardback book to the face. No one else dared to say another word about Reiko's looks that morning.

"You seemed to have caught Kadaj's cold," muttered her father.

"Lucky me…" muttered Reiko.

"I'll take care of her," said Yazoo a little too joyfully.

"No, you're not!" growled Kadaj as he shoved his brother away from Reiko.

"I'm going back to bed…" muttered Reiko as she scuttled back to her room.

Even when she shut the door to her room, she could still hear Kadaj and Yazoo arguing over who'd look after her today. Pulling the bedcovers over her head, Reiko hoped that they'd all leave soon so she could get some sleep. But, the sad fact of life was, nothing ever works out the way you planned…

* * *

"What was that crash?" muttered Reiko. 

"That was your father, Yazoo, and Loz trying to fix lunch," answered Kadaj (it was his turn to look after her).

"Great…"

"Are you okay?"

"…I've had better days… Kadaj?"

"Yeah?"

"My mom once said that…if you're sick, that holding hands with someone would make you feel better faster…"

Kadaj turned an interesting shade of red. Was Reiko delusional now? Well, it wouldn't hurt if…he just took a hold of her hand for a few seconds… His face turned even redder when he actually held Reiko's hand with his own.

"Thanks mom," muttered Reiko.

'She's delusional,' thought Kadaj. But he continued to hold onto Reiko's hand as she slept. For some reason, he felt as though if he let go of her hand now, he'd lose her forever…

"Kadaj! What are you doing?" exclaimed an all too familiar voice.

It was Yazoo, and he didn't sound too pleased…

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NightRain0- Sibling rivalry, how fun! Hope you all liked this chapter! Please review! 


	4. Foreshadow

NightRain0- Wow! I finally updated! Sorry for the delay! I don't own any of the FF characters so don't sue me! Oh, changes in the story have turned it into a one part story after all.

* * *

Things Change

Memory 4: Foreshadow

"Well hello, Dr. Endou," greeted Hojo. "What brings you here?"

"You know what brings me here, Hojo! I don't want my daughters with those…those things any longer!" snarled Reiko's father.

"Now, now, Dr. Endou, be reasonable… If we were to remove her from the picture, then those poor boys would be heartbroken and the experiment would fail. No, I cannot allow her to leave just yet…"

"But…"

"Dr. Endou, you knew what those boys are going to do…it's your own fault that your daughter is now involved…"

* * *

"It's so boring," moaned Yazoo. "We're not going to the lab today… I can't go outside because the humidity will ruin my hair…"

"Were you always this vain?" asked Kadaj. "Or is it because that lady at the lab keeps spoiling you?"

"Who? Irene?"

"Every time you get a small cut or something like that, she stops everything and cries over you like it's the end of the world."

"Of course, if anything were to happen to this pretty face of mine, it'd be a permanent scar on this pathetic planet."

"We've already gone through this a hundred times; I'm the better looking one!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"Uh… don't I get a say in this?" asked Loz.

"Shut up, Loz!" snapped Kadaj and Yazoo. "Everybody knows that you're the ugliest!"

When Reiko walked into the room, she found two silver-haired brothers arguing about who looked prettier and another silver-haired brother huddled up in a corner, crying. 'Sigh, this is going to be a long day,' she thought.

"Will you two shut up?" she asked. "I already told you two that you were both equally ugly!"

"Reiko! How could you say that?" whimpered Kadaj.

"Yeah, Reiko," purred Yazoo as he put his arm around her shoulder. "You can't deny that I'm pretty, right?"

Before Reiko could answer, Kadaj tackled Yazoo to the ground and the two proceeded to pull at each others' hair. Reiko, not wanting to get involved any further, promptly turned and left the room. The three brothers, noticing that she was leaving, followed. None of them noticed the camera that was recording every second of this event.

_"Soon, Jenova, soon…"_

* * *

The scientist, Irene, had stopped by later that day and praised Yazoo's looks and how healthy he looked and so on and so forth. Kadaj, not wanting to hear any more of this, stalked off. Wasn't there anything better to do? Loz wasn't going to be much fun, he was playing around with that stray puppy he had found wandering about. And Reiko…actually, bothering her was the perfect thing to do at the moment! Kadaj rushed off with glee to bother his favorite victim.

"Reiko-chan!" exclaimed Kadaj as he bulldozed his way into the library.

Reiko looked up from her horror novel and muttered, "Oh great… What are you doing here?"

"Let's play, Reiko-chan!"

"…No!"

"Please?"

"Go away!"

"Reiko…"

"Sigh…Kadaj, how can you be this…active?"

"…Dunno."

"Maybe this is what it's like to be a child…"

"What do you mean?"

"My mom passed away when I was very young… So I had to grow up fast… I never had the time to be a child, or make any friends…"

"You have friends now. We'll always be friends, Reiko. All four of us! We'll be friends forever!"

Reiko, looking a bit sad, whispered, "We can't be together forever…"

"What are you saying?"

"We will one day die separately… That's the way it always works…"

"Reiko…"

"Things change, Kadaj…"

* * *

That's it for now. Sorry it's been like a year since I updated, but I recently regained interest in this fic! Ja ne! 


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